Paedophile, 24, dies in prison after subjecting girl, 10, to ‘world’s greatest evil’

Jacob Bean was found unresponsive in his cell by another inmate at HMP Rochester. Efforts were made to revive him, but he died at the Category C prison in Fort Road

Mystery shrouds the death of a 24-year-old paedophile who was said to have inflicted “one of the world’s greatest evils” upon his young victim.

Jacob Bean was discovered unconscious in his cell by a fellow prisoner at HMP Rochester. Medical staff attempted to resuscitate him, but he passed away at the Category C jail on Fort Road. Bean had resided in Chartham, near Canterbury, before being sentenced to five-and-a-half years behind bars in November last year for grooming a 10-year-old girl via Snapchat and WhatsApp.

Canterbury Crown Court was told he transmitted child abuse footage and explicit images to her, while also coercing her to carry out sexual acts upon herself, reports the Mirror.

When Bean was convicted, he was already being investigated for grooming three additional underage girls on Snapchat, alongside creating indecent photographs.

Coroner Sarah Clarke launched an inquest into his death, revealing the sex offender perished on September 7.

She stated that on August 31, Bean complained of feeling unwell, experiencing breathing difficulties and chest pains.

He was transported to Medway Maritime Hospital and brought back to prison the next day.

However, a week afterwards, Ms Clarke explained Bean went to shower and returned to his cell – before being found lifeless by another inmate.

Despite emergency services’ efforts, he could not be rescued and was declared dead shortly after 12.30pm.

Ms Clarke confirmed the current cause of death remains undetermined and the case has been postponed until a pre-inquest review in March next year. At Bean’s sentencing in November last year, the heartbroken father of the 10-year-old girl preyed upon by the paedophile expressed his feelings of failure as a parent to Canterbury Crown Court.

In a poignant statement, he penned: “As a father you never want anything bad to happen to your children. You do what you can to protect them and right now I feel like I have failed.

“My 10-year-old daughter has been exposed to one of the world’s greatest evils. We have lost our daughter, the way we knew her to be.”

Bean had admitted to sexual communication with a child, creating indecent images, attempting to make a child watch a sexual act and causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in penetrative sexual activity.

Upon release from prison, he would have been subject to indefinite sex offender notification requirements and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Following Bean’s death, a spokesperson for the prison service stated: “As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”